Mental Health

So I have to make my position very clear here. I am in no way denying the need for an independent ethics approval process, within either the academy or the NHS. The need to ensure absolute protection for vulnerable groups and individuals is paramount. Ethics reviews also ensure research methodologies and rationale are robust. As […]

Derbyshire is a large county with a diverse spread of population and geography. Much of this is covered by the Derbyshire Community Foundation Trust, whose staff can struggle to reach a medical library in the course of their work, given commuting time. Collaborating to solve this problem, the three library services across the different trusts […]

“It was this prognosis of doom, this life sentence, this death before death that I instinctively rejected when the words “You are wrong” formed silently within me. With the wisdom of hindsight I understand why this moment in the psychiatrist’s office was a major turning point in my recovery process. When I rejected the prognosis of doom […]

Things have been a bit quiet on my blog for the last six months. A lot has happened, mainly positive, and with some challenges. The main change has been a house move. We still live in Derby but the house we were in had to be sold because of being owned by my partner and […]

Tomorrow I facilitate a workshop in which women with perinatal mental distress will be asked to explore their health journeys visually. This caused me to remember a similar collage that I created at the request of a wonderfully supportive nurse to represent my own health and well-being needs and challenges. it is an honour […]

Dementia is an area of mental health that I have not had so much awareness of, and so the chance to co-facilitate a group specifically designing for the memory problems associated with dementia was a really positive opportunity. The brief for the MinD project worked across several areas that I have professional interest and experience […]

Today I attended the first meeting with the wider NHS England Autism team, which I would describe as small but perfectly formed. I had already spoken to Sarah Jackson on Twitter, and also met Aaron Oxford after speaking at Skipton House in London but this was my chance to meet the rest of their colleagues […]

“Jen agreed to be filmed to talk about her lived experience of a personal health budget. Jen not only articulated the positive outcomes of the experience, but was able to provide some valuable insight into how to make the process better. Jen comes from a marketing background and was also able to review the film […]

Today was the section of my research module that detailed the experiences of voice hearers, via a person-centred construct that applied meaning to their experiences, moving it away from a pathologised symptom of illness. Instead, voices are expressed as a natural response to traumatic events, often appearing at times of high stress and when reframed […]

The last few weeks have been completely crazy and I’ve barely had enough time to sleep, let alone take stock and write. I have been involved in so many things, so many amazing pieces of work that it’s a bit tricky to know where to begin, so I’m going to start with a few highlights. […]